HOT SPRINGS -- Just like in football, sometimes it pays to toss out the game plan in horse racing.
Under a cold, gray sky typical of fall in Arkansas, Break Even broke from the gate to an easy lead under jockey Colby Hernandez, who said he never looked back during a gate-to-wire win in the $150,000, 6-furlong Purple Martin Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 1:10.15 before an estimated crowd of 15,000 at Oaklawn Park on Saturday.
Break Even, a daughter of Country Day trained by Brad Cox, finished 4½ lengths in front of second-place Lady T N T. Tomlin was third, three-fourths of a length behind Lady T N T and 2¼ lengths in front of fourth-place Istan Council.
It was Break Even's third win in three career starts.
"I didn't think I would have it that easy, but she just broke so sharp, and she just took me from there," Hernandez said. "After that, I was just, 'Go ahead girl, do what you need to do.' ''
Arkansas-bred Bye Bye J, the 8-5 favorite ridden by Ramon Vazquez and trained by Ron Moquett, finished fifth, 8 lengths behind the winner.
"My filly broke sharp," Vazquez said. "It was just the way the race was. I think the track favored the horses running in front. The other filly ran good. For my filly, it was just one of those days."
Hernandez, in his first race at Oaklawn, said he planned to ride Break Even just off the pace, but Break Even seemed geared to set it shortly after the start. None of the other eight fillies in the field accepted her early challenge.
"I was thinking we would be just off another horse," Hernandez said. "Then she broke out of there, and I was like, 'Well, we'll change our plans.' "
"I knew she was fast, but I was surprised no other filly went with her," Moquett said.
Break Even, the 9-5 second choice, started from the eighth post position but quickly had a clear path to the rail. She led by 2 lengths through the first in a quarter mile of 22.28, with Lady T N T in second, a length in front of Tomlin in third at 24-1. Bye Bye J was fourth, 3½ lengths off the lead.
The order remained the same through Break Even's half-mile split of 45.64 and as Break Even turned into the home stretch.
Break Even's lead over Lady T N T increased by half a length through the final 3/16 of a mile.
"She was nice and relaxed, just comfortable," Hernandez said. "She just kicked in on her own. She's a cool horse. All I had to do was look over at the [video] screen on the tote board to see how she was doing."
Lady T N T started at 6-1 off her second-place finish in Oaklawn's $100,000 6-furlong Dixie Belle Stakes on Feb. 16, and she held firmly to her grip on second in the Purple Martin through the finish.
Tomlin, a daughter of Distorted Humor trained by Donnie K. Von Hemel, entered off two graded-stakes races at Santa Anita, including a third-place finish in the Grade II $200,000 7-furlong Santa Ynez Stakes on Jan. 6.
Istan Council, at 12-1, was seventh off the final turn, but passed three fillies in the stretch -- including Bye Bye J as they approached the wire -- to finish fourth.
Hope was high among Bye Bye J's connections. Alex and JoAnn Lieblong bought the filly at Moquett's suggestion after her second-place finish in the Grade III $150,000 Forward Gal Stakes at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Feb. 2. She was one of five in the Purple Martin field with graded-stakes experience.
She made her Arkansas-bred debut at Oaklawn with a win in a 6-furlong optional-claiming race with a purse of $92,000 on March 14, but she fell short in her fifth career start against open company.
"[Vazquez] said he wished he had been closer to the pace, because it left her with too much to do," Moquett said. "She tried to make a run, but she had to make it beside horses where the ground was cut up."
Sports on 03/31/2019